Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Homophobic Graffiti Condemned at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Before Tyler Clementi took that fateful walk out onto the George Washington Bridge, he complained that he found many of the students on the Rutgers campus were more supportive of his peeping-Tom roommate than than they were of him.

How refreshing it is, then, to see the reaction to the recent vandalism of an openly gay UMass Dartmouth student's car. The unnamed student left his car parked in a campus parking lot for a few hours, only to find anti-gay slurs spray painted on it when he returned.

Campus police launched an immediate investigation and are asking for the assistance of any students who may have witnessed or have other knowledge of the incident. Even more importantly, Dartmouth's administration quickly sent out an email to all of the students advising them of the resources available to them if any of them felt threatened or harassed.

Quoted in the Boston Globe, Chancellor Jean F. MacCormack stated, “As members of a community that highly value every person, we must join together to condemn this cowardly act... We must join in support of this student and all members of our GLBT community who — like all of us — seek to be treated with respect and dignity as they pursue their dreams and aspirations here.’’

UMass Dartmouth spokesperson John Hoey said, "This is something we take very seriously. Our campus police and office of student affairs are working to make sure people understand this kind of behavior is not tolerated."

Local mainstream media reporting has also stressed the long-standing tradition of diversity in the University's community. Here is the coverage from Boston channel 5 news: